Paleomagnetic investigations in the Croatian part of the Pannonian Basin: a review

Abstract

This paper summarizes the paleomagnetic results that have been obtained for the Neogene of the Croatian part of the Pannonian Basin since 1995. The paleomagnetic investigations were carried out almost exclusively on sediments, which were deposited in widely differing environments. Most of the paleomagnetic directions can be considered as of pre-folding age, but some were clearly acquired diagenetically or even after deformation. This means that any future magnetostratigraphic study in the southern Pannonian Basin must be carried out with utmost care. Fortunately, the tectonic interpretation of the data is favorably affected by the fact that magnetizations of pre and post-folding ages show the same angles of declinations. They suggest that the entire Croatian part of the Pannonian Basin rotated counterclockwise, by about 30°, after the Early Pontian and before the Holocene. It is also remarkable that Ottnangian data from the Slavonian Mts do not indicate a Tisia-type clockwise rotation during the mid-Miocene.